Le témoignage de Léa : destination Finlande

Témoignage mobilité d'études Finland Grenoble IAE

International, Vie étudiante

Lapland University of Applied Sciences - Rovaniemi

[Janvier-Mai 2019]

MY CAMPUS

We cannot really talk of a campus when it comes to the university in Rovaniemi. In fact, there are two main universities: Lapland University of Applied Sciences, where I was studying, and the University of Lapland where you could study Law, Education and Political Sciences etc. The two universities where 500m apart so it was very easy to go from one to the other. Especially since the library was in the main university (University of Lapland). The campus is 20 minutes away, on foot, from the city centre but also easily accessible by bus.

MY SCHOOL

As I said earlier, my university is the Lapland University of Applied Sciences. There are different fields that are being studied there: International Business, Engineering, Forest Management etc. This school is way smaller than the main university but it still manages to be welcoming and perfect to study at. There are three buildings (A, B and C) and 3 floors. There is one cafeteria where you can have breakfast, lunch and dinner for only 2,40€/meal. As I said earlier, the library is in the other university but there are still some good spots to work on group projects for instance. Finally, one word about administration in Finland. It is way more efficient and fast than in France. There are very active and willing to help whenever you encounter an issue.

MY COURSES

Once again, the education system in Finland is really different from what we have in France. For instance, I didn’t have any final exams like we would have in our home university, also known as “partiels”. The grades rely on the work achieved during the entire process of the classes. Group projects and oral presentations were the main tasks that had to be performed by us, as students. It can be scary at the beginning but I believe that thanks to that I feel more confident with talking in front of an audience and my group work skills have also improved. Moreover, despite group projects, we also had to write personal essays about the class and what we thought of it. Now if we talk more about the content of the courses, I think a lot of concepts were already studied in France for me but I still managed to learn new things as those concepts were applied to Finland.

ACTIVITIES FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

What is great about studying in Rovaniemi, is that student organizations are really active and always organising cool stuff for their regular students and international ones. If you study in Rovaniemi you will have the chance to experiment a lot of different parties in clubs, but also more chilled activities such as group saunas, barbecues, international coffees where people from one nation gather in a coffee shop in order to talk about their country to people interested, an international food fair within the school etc. Lots of activities for international students are organised almost every week in Rovaniemi.

Mis à jour le 14 janvier 2020

MY ADVICE-TIPS AND OR MY CULTURAL SHOCK

My main advice for future students of Rovaniemi is to enjoy your time here!
Even if it can be hard at the beginning, depending on your personality, you will have the time of your life and before you know it, it will already be over. Don’t be afraid to go in front of people, put your stereotypes away and discover new cultures and new people, you will see it’s so interesting! Don’t be afraid of the cold. Trust me, seeing -40°c can be very scary and I will not lie, it’s pretty cold. Yet, be sure to have all the clothes you need and you will see, it’s not that bad. Having the right equipment is what matters the most: 3 layers is the best way not to feel the cold too much, hat, gloves (vital), good socks and shoes (also vital).